Clinical outreach nurse
Just wanted some more info on the role if anyone knows much about it? I've done some reading on it but still not 100%. It's something I am thinking about in the future and I am interested in. Would I need some experience in ICU? Or is it more surgical department I'd need? Any info much appreciated 
Original post by wbnurse
Just wanted some more info on the role if anyone knows much about it? I've done some reading on it but still not 100%. It's something I am thinking about in the future and I am interested in. Would I need some experience in ICU? Or is it more surgical department I'd need? Any info much appreciated
Do you mean critical care outreach? The go by a few different names and the experience required depends on how individual trusts view the way they should deliver the treatment of critically ill patients outside of their itu.
Original post by moonkatt
Do you mean critical care outreach? The go by a few different names and the experience required depends on how individual trusts view the way they should deliver the treatment of critically ill patients outside of their itu.
I'm not sure... 🤔 the trust I'm in they literally just have outreach nurse written on their uniforms. Is there different types??
We have a Paediatric Critical Care Outreach at my hospital, whom are Band 6s. There is normally one Outreach nurse per shift During winter time they offer secondments to top up the team.
Their role is to do a one review per shift of all High Dependency patients, patients who are on a ward and <24 hours post PICU, or on Optiflow (A form of respiratory support). They are also available to review any patients not on their caseload who nursing staff are concerned about. They are also particularly helpful in providing support with advanced clinical skills, especially out of hours. They hold a bleep and respond to any crash calls. They work autonomously and can be contacted instead of a doctor. They don't do venepuncture or prescribing but can make recommendations on what drugs may be useful to manage a patient.
For us the general experience required is High Dependency (With a HDU qualification) at the very least. Many of our Outreach nurses are ex-PICU or A&E. One of them used to be a PICU ward manager. As they cover patients of all specialties, they need a great breadth of knowledge - it can be easy for us nurses to fall into the specialty or area we work in and know little about other clinical areas.
I, personally, am interested in one day joining their team. I think they are all excellent at what they do. Being nurses, they understand lots of the logistics and practicalities of delivering nursing care which is helpful to me as a ward nurse, yet they have great advanced assessment skills. They're really useful on nights if a Dr is stuck in resus or something but you need an urgent review of a patient.
Hope that helps, although obviously as @moonkatt says, this will all vary from Trust to Trust.
Their role is to do a one review per shift of all High Dependency patients, patients who are on a ward and <24 hours post PICU, or on Optiflow (A form of respiratory support). They are also available to review any patients not on their caseload who nursing staff are concerned about. They are also particularly helpful in providing support with advanced clinical skills, especially out of hours. They hold a bleep and respond to any crash calls. They work autonomously and can be contacted instead of a doctor. They don't do venepuncture or prescribing but can make recommendations on what drugs may be useful to manage a patient.
For us the general experience required is High Dependency (With a HDU qualification) at the very least. Many of our Outreach nurses are ex-PICU or A&E. One of them used to be a PICU ward manager. As they cover patients of all specialties, they need a great breadth of knowledge - it can be easy for us nurses to fall into the specialty or area we work in and know little about other clinical areas.
I, personally, am interested in one day joining their team. I think they are all excellent at what they do. Being nurses, they understand lots of the logistics and practicalities of delivering nursing care which is helpful to me as a ward nurse, yet they have great advanced assessment skills. They're really useful on nights if a Dr is stuck in resus or something but you need an urgent review of a patient.
Hope that helps, although obviously as @moonkatt says, this will all vary from Trust to Trust.
descriptions given of the role are all fiar and accurate , there is variation between trusts , some places will have B6 who don't prescribe and provide advice' others will have B6 or B7 if prescribers roles which are more interventional
suprised at the places that say they don;t do cannulation and venepuncture - but then again it;s only some trusts that encourage this in all their ward staff , while others semi encourage it / allow those with the skills to maintain them regardless of ward setting , there;s a few places which are still stuck i nthe past venepuncture and cannulation wise ...
backgrounds of Critical care outreach nurses i've met / worked with tend to be, as others have said, CCU / HDU /ICU and some with perioperative or A+E backgrounds / experience ... without those kinds of experience and skills it would be a very hard job as few ward based nurses even those who have worked on traditional MAU /SAU settings have the level of assessment skills / triage skills / experience of autonomous initial management that the Critical Care or Emergency Nurse has.
suprised at the places that say they don;t do cannulation and venepuncture - but then again it;s only some trusts that encourage this in all their ward staff , while others semi encourage it / allow those with the skills to maintain them regardless of ward setting , there;s a few places which are still stuck i nthe past venepuncture and cannulation wise ...
backgrounds of Critical care outreach nurses i've met / worked with tend to be, as others have said, CCU / HDU /ICU and some with perioperative or A+E backgrounds / experience ... without those kinds of experience and skills it would be a very hard job as few ward based nurses even those who have worked on traditional MAU /SAU settings have the level of assessment skills / triage skills / experience of autonomous initial management that the Critical Care or Emergency Nurse has.
the term outreach nurse can mean anything though, you have COPD community outreach nurses and so on, so it can depend on theor specific role, however in hospital slang, outreach often refers to critical care outreach.
The service came about following studies on how acute and critically ill patients were managed on the wards, this led to the recommendation (one of many) that track and trigger scores (MEWS/SEWS/NEWS/PEWS etc) were used to help staff to identify deteriorating patients and to trigger referral to the doctor and outreach. This is so that deterioration can be managed so that the patient is either admitted to critical care in a timely manner, or so that admission is avoided. The role of the outreach nurse also encompasses supporting non critical care staff in learning how to identify and manage acute/critically ill patients outside of the critical care unit, the whole idea was called "critical care without walls". They also follow up critical care discharges, like @PaediatricStN has said, and to audit the appropriateness of referrals and to look at the management of any ITU readmissions and sometimes arrests and so on.
At least, that's the idea.
How individual trusts interpret this varies, along with how much autonomy they give their outreach nurses. Some trusts have all singing, all dancing outreach staff, who can undertake more advanced skills such as taking ABGs and have independent prescribers, other trusts use them as a simple advisory service to buy time until a medically qualified member of staff can come along and take over management of the patient.
@wbnurse, next time you see one, why don't you ask them what they do? As long as they're not running off to an emergency somewhere they'll be more than happy to explain what their role is, education is a huge part of their role.
The service came about following studies on how acute and critically ill patients were managed on the wards, this led to the recommendation (one of many) that track and trigger scores (MEWS/SEWS/NEWS/PEWS etc) were used to help staff to identify deteriorating patients and to trigger referral to the doctor and outreach. This is so that deterioration can be managed so that the patient is either admitted to critical care in a timely manner, or so that admission is avoided. The role of the outreach nurse also encompasses supporting non critical care staff in learning how to identify and manage acute/critically ill patients outside of the critical care unit, the whole idea was called "critical care without walls". They also follow up critical care discharges, like @PaediatricStN has said, and to audit the appropriateness of referrals and to look at the management of any ITU readmissions and sometimes arrests and so on.
At least, that's the idea.
How individual trusts interpret this varies, along with how much autonomy they give their outreach nurses. Some trusts have all singing, all dancing outreach staff, who can undertake more advanced skills such as taking ABGs and have independent prescribers, other trusts use them as a simple advisory service to buy time until a medically qualified member of staff can come along and take over management of the patient.
@wbnurse, next time you see one, why don't you ask them what they do? As long as they're not running off to an emergency somewhere they'll be more than happy to explain what their role is, education is a huge part of their role.
Thanks guys great info. I was a hca on a surgical ward and the role has always caught my eye and definitely something I've wanted to do. But I never asked them 
they do cannulate etc because if no one could cannulate....outreach would be called. Also patients from icu would also get regular visits from outreach and if their was crash they would also be on scene but the role was abit wishy washy with me and I didn't fully understand it. I want to know where I'd even start to eventually work in the outreach team? I haven't been around them since being a student but hopefully on one of my placement il be able to ask them more info
they do cannulate etc because if no one could cannulate....outreach would be called. Also patients from icu would also get regular visits from outreach and if their was crash they would also be on scene but the role was abit wishy washy with me and I didn't fully understand it. I want to know where I'd even start to eventually work in the outreach team? I haven't been around them since being a student but hopefully on one of my placement il be able to ask them more infoOriginal post by wbnurse
Thanks guys great info. I was a hca on a surgical ward and the role has always caught my eye and definitely something I've wanted to do. But I never asked them they do cannulate etc because if no one could cannulate....outreach would be called. Also patients from icu would also get regular visits from outreach and if their was crash they would also be on scene but the role was abit wishy washy with me and I didn't fully understand it. I want to know where I'd even start to eventually work in the outreach team? I haven't been around them since being a student but hopefully on one of my placement il be able to ask them more info
they do cannulate etc because if no one could cannulate....outreach would be called. Also patients from icu would also get regular visits from outreach and if their was crash they would also be on scene but the role was abit wishy washy with me and I didn't fully understand it. I want to know where I'd even start to eventually work in the outreach team? I haven't been around them since being a student but hopefully on one of my placement il be able to ask them more infoThey're often called critical care outreach, so there's a clue with that
Spoiler
Original post by moonkatt
They're often called critical care outreach, so there's a clue with that
Spoiler
Ahh yes.....I do have a habit of missing things that are staring right at me 😏
some of the confusioon over cannulation may be because gettign vascular access is not sufficient reason in isolation to call Outreach vs asking adjacent wards / directorate nursing bleep holder / bed monster / other on call Junior doctos if the ward staff and/or the Foundation doc covering the unit can;t get access.
Original post by zippyRN
some of the confusioon over cannulation may be because gettign vascular access is not sufficient reason in isolation to call Outreach vs asking adjacent wards / directorate nursing bleep holder / bed monster / other on call Junior doctos if the ward staff and/or the Foundation doc covering the unit can;t get access.
Il be honest I'm not 100% but I used to be the vampire of the ward and get blood out of stone and I'd often hear the phase "we even got outreach and they didn't manage" so I do know they used to get bleeped to cannulate or for bloods that where important. But the surgical ward was like a second home to outreach so there was usually one on the ward seeing fresh out of icu patients
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